His cellphone buzzed, his agent's contact information flashed, the news was joyous: The Philadelphia 76ers were adding Holiday to their roster for the rest of the season and he was to leave the Idaho Stampede immediately for the NBA.

"I can't tell you how excited I was," Holiday said. "I was just so happy. So many things went through my head."

A significant chunk of Holiday's thoughts that late March day involved gratitude and appreciation. To a group of coaches, to an organization, to an oft-maligned minor league that helped groom him for the moment.

"I owe a lot to the coaches and I owe a lot to the league," Holiday said. "They helped me get ready for this. The exposure, the coaching. (Stampede coach Mike Peck) trusted me, left me on the floor and let me play a lot of minutes. At the end of the year, that helped the most.

"I personally believe there is good competition (in the D-League). It can help you get to the NBA."

This season was the first of the Blazers' exclusive affiliation with the Idaho Stampede, and while there surely will be tweaks in the future, the Blazers say the partnership and symbiotic relationship was a success. The proof lies in Holiday.

The Blazers picked up the lanky 6-foot-6 guard/forward off of the waiver wire in training camp -- after the Cleveland Cavaliers cut him -- and designated him as one of their three D-League affiliated players, meaning he could fight for an NBA job in Blazers camp and settle in with the Stampede if the big-league opportunity didn't pan out.

Holiday didn't make the Blazers' roster, but he made the most of his D-League season, averaging 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 blocks and a league-leading 2.4 steals in 47 games. Holiday, who was regarded more for his defense during a four-year career at the University of Washington, made significant strides offensively with Idaho, scoring 30 or more points five times and shooting 42 percent from the field -- including 41 percent from three-point range.

The 76ers have a history with Holiday -- he played on their summer league team in Orlando last summer -- so they scooped him up and added him to a roster that includes his brother, All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. Justin Holiday will play out the NBA season and is expected to join Philadelphia's summer league team again this summer.

For the Blazers, Holiday's promotion was bittersweet. He's evidence that the Stampede and their first-year coaching staff, led by Peck, can develop and nurture talent. But because of a variety of factors -- including a fully-stocked 15-man roster -- the Blazers were not the eventual beneficiaries of this nurturing.

"They likely tracked him all year," Blazers assistant general manager Bill Branch said. "He went to summer league with the 76ers, so they knew him well. Like all other NBA teams, I'm sure they took note of his development."

And therein lies the rub with the Blazers-Stampede partnership. Any D-League team can foster growth in a player, but unless the parent NBA team has an open roster spot, it can't control where he winds up. Moving forward, if Idaho is to become a true vehicle for grooming young talent, perhaps the Blazers will need to keep a roster spot open for flexibility.

Branch, who oversees the Blazers' D-League operations, refused to get into specifics about future organizational tweaks. But the benefits of carrying an open roster spot are multi-faceted. Most obvious, the Blazers would have a vacancy should a player prove NBA-worthy. But also, it might lure better talent to training camp and give the Blazers a stronger pool of players to consider when deciding whom to designate as a D-League affiliate.

"The D-League is always changing and altering rules to make it better and more beneficial and to make it right," Branch said. "They want to get it right."

And, for the most part, the Blazers say, they got things right this season. Will Barton, Victor Claver, Joel Freeland and Nolan Smith were assigned to Idaho at different times in 2012-13. The Blazers planned on sending players more often, but injuries and circumstance halted more assignments.

The Blazers won't feature a roster with five rookies very often, so future seasons likely will feature more assignments.

"I think it definitely served a purpose for us," Stotts said of the D-League. "We probably didn't utilize it as much as we anticipated. And I'm not saying that's good or bad. It's just the way it worked out. But I think the time that Victor and Joel and Nolan and Will spent there was a good thing."

For the first time, the Blazers hired and controlled Idaho's coaching staffs and connected playing styles, playbooks and philosophies between the NBA and D-League teams. The Stampede's staff coached alongside Blazers coaches in training camp and established the same defensive and offensive foundations when they opened practices in Idaho. When Barton and Claver and other Blazers went to Idaho, the coaches were familiar and the plays featured the same terminology.

There was no learning curve, no lost-in-translation moments. They simply went to Idaho and played.

And the shuttling back and forth of NBA players didn't damage Holiday's NBA stock. One season -- and one phone call -- secured his NBA destiny.

"The way I feel about it, if an NBA team wants you, they are going to find you," Holiday said. "I've always thought: If you have talent, they're going to find you. I was given a chance (in Idaho) and I made the most of it."